[fastball]

Right, but I think the point of the OP is to say "Good news everybody! Despite what you've seen on TV and read in the paper, you're still overwhelmingly more likely to die of old age than at the hands of murderers/terrorists."

And to go along with that, I believe it is trying to ask the question "is it not just as important to follow the trends in so-called 'death by natural causes' as it is to follow trends for 'unnatural causes', at least as far as public awareness/good is concerned?"

[baking]

If I was over 65 (and I'm close) I would worry more about what put me in the hospital than what appeared on my death certificate. The two are surprisingly unrelated in the elderly.